1. Field
A drinking water supply device and a mineral water supply module of a drinking water supply device capable of providing drinking water containing minerals are disclosed herein.
2. Background
In general, a drinking water supply device may be a device that supplies drinking water to a user. The drinking water supply device may be a stand-alone device or may constitute part of an electric home appliance, such as, e.g., a refrigerator.
A drinking water supply device may supply drinking water at room temperature. The drinking water supply device may cool drinking water using a cold water supply unit that includes a refrigeration cycle or may heat drinking water using a heater. That is, the drinking water supply device may supply cold water or hot water to a user as needed.
Drinking water may be underground water, raw water supplied from a faucet, or filtered water obtained by filtering raw water. Drinking water may be defined as drinkable water.
Drinking water supply devices may be capable of providing water other than filtered water, cold water, or hot water. For example, the drinking water supply device may include a mineral water supply module that may be capable of providing mineral water that may contain a predetermined amount of minerals to a user.
Minerals may constitute one of the five types of nutritional substances along with protein, fat, carbohydrates, and vitamins. Minerals may play an important part in biochemical activity such as, e.g., catalytic activity, in the human body and in the constitution of, for example, the bones and teeth.
Mineral elements such as calcium (Ca), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and sodium (Na) may be important for metabolism. Mineral water that may contain these minerals may play a supporting role in improving health, for example, discharging waste matter from the human body and promoting digestion.
When a predetermined amount of minerals are in drinking water, the water may taste better than when the user drinks the water.
To make mineral water, an electro-analyzer, a mineral filter, or a device for directly supplying mineral liquid to filtered water, for example, may be applied to the drinking water supply device.
The device for directly supplying mineral liquid to filtered water may be more compact than other devices.
For example, the mineral water supply module for directly supplying condensed minerals to filtered water may be configured to have a structure in which minerals discharged from a mineral cartridge or container configured to store condensed mineral liquid may be supplied to a water discharge pipe through a mineral supply pipe.
As the mineral supply pipe of a conventional mineral water supply module may have a same inner diameter as the water discharge pipe, the amount of minerals supplied may easily vary due to the pressure from a pump configured to pressurize the mineral supply pipe.
That is, as the amount of minerals that are supplied varies, the concentration of minerals contained in mineral water that is discharged may vary. Thus, mineral water may taste differently whenever a user drinks the water.
In order to solve this problem, a flow rate adjustment unit or flow rate adjuster, for example, an orifice, may be used. As the amount of minerals that is required to generate or make mineral water may be very small, it may be difficult to manufacture a flow rate adjuster that may be capable of discharging a very small amount of minerals.
For example, if a drinking water supply device is configured to have a structure in which an inner diameter of a pipe used in the drinking water supply device is reduced so that a very small amount of minerals flow in the pipe, it may be difficult to manufacture the drinking water supply device. In addition, productivity may be lowered, and manufacturing costs may increase.
When energy is applied to minerals that exhibit high hardness, the minerals may crystallize and scale. The scale deposits may reduce the flow sectional area of the pipe. As a result, the flow of minerals may be obstructed, and a valve may malfunction.
For example, if the pipe has a reduced inner diameter such that a very small amount of minerals may flow through, the pipe may be easily clogged due to the scale deposits. Thus, there may be a high demand for a structure in which a pipe defining or providing a micro channel for discharging minerals may be easily maintained and replaced.